Time Out: Tie Dye With Tiggy Rawlings

I have been privileged enough to take a tie dye class with the queen of indigo dye herself Tiggy Rawlings. Inspired by regular trips to India and writing her blog "I'd rather be in India", not only can Tiggy produce a a kaleidoscope of professional dye finishes, but her warm and generous nature makes the class pure enjoyment, it's more like a coffee morning with friends. I took a Monday morning two hour class. Our group was small, the dye colours were rich and the possibilities were endless.

I took inspiration from the SS2011  tie dye from Bottega Veneta. With great instruction from Tiggy, all who dipped their fingers into the dye that morning came away with some very nice samples and pieces.

I took plain white T-shirts and a piece of cotton suitable for a scarf. We intricately folded and spiralled our fabrics, then daubed with rich colourful dyes, ICI Procion dyes suitable for natural fibres (cotton, silk, viscose). The dyes take about 24 hours to achieve a deep colour, so after two hours of folding and daubing we went off home with the wet dye soggy fabrics in plastic, the next day I rinsed the pieces through in cold water, beaming at the swirls of colour contrasting against the white ceramic of the butler sink. Looking back, it was such an interesting morning and the results both rewarding and inspiring.

The T-Shirt

The Scarf